Nesting with my Needles

The count down is officially on for the arrival of the new baby bunny - and it seems I am refusing to slow down. I had planned that I would spend these last few weeks as a 'resting' period. Where I could curl up on the sofa, watch movies, generally pamper myself and the large bump I'm hauling around - most of all stacking up on some extra sleep that I won't be getting for the next 3 months. However it seems that I am still running around doing things at full tilt, brisk doggie walks in the park - like the most energized pregnant person you have seen - occasionally I might pass out for a quick 'nap' (of a couple of hours or so .... hum.)

This week, ignoring all the baby orientated things I should be doing, I spent a day pulling together my first knitting needle organizer. Before I could begin on my pattern I had to first sort through the pile of knitting needles I kept loose in this bag. The bag had done a sterling job for a while - but as my knitting needle collection has grown it has become harder to find needles quickly - or even know what needles I have. For example I had completely given up on trying to find my beloved chunky cable needle and my naff blue plastic needle I love to use to sew knitted pieces together. But once the bag was emptied properly I discovered that they had been hiding in there all along! Some time ago my mother had also given me a large collection of old knitting needles. I did discard the bent ones but I was still left with a whole array of different lengths and sizes. How would I measure all these strange unmarked sizes? Luckily I had an antique bell gauge in amongst the collection as well ... ... which I soon learned was not that helpful as many of the old UK sizes do not really exist anymore. So I have learnt quite a lot about old knitting UK needle sizes and in the process I discovered the crazy (yet impressive) art of miniature knitting.

I decided to make my needle organizer from some left over pieces of Amy Butler's Lotus fabric, some left over cotton batting and some left over bias tape (I tend never to throw any fabric bits away - believing it will come in useful at some point!) It was a super easy and fast project.
Unrolled it measures 21"h x 23"w. Rolled up it measures 15"h x 4.5"w (depending on how many needles you have stuffed in there of course!) It has 4 layers of pockets for different length needles. The bottom pockets are extra wide to hold your circular needles. In total there are 50 different pockets.There is also a crafty 6" flap at the top of the organizer that folds over and secures with cute side ties to stop the needles falling out once it is all rolled up.
This all means that now I have a full inventory of my needles and I can waste yet more hours, put aside for baby stuff, on the Ravelry needle page! Being able to deny that your life is about to change in a momentous way can be a fabulous thing!